Flat White

In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.

Penalty rate revision a win for jobs and commerce

23 February 2017 4:42 pm

Earlier today, the Fair Work Commission announced that Sunday and public holiday penalty rates for hospitality, restaurant, fast food, retail and pharmacy workers would be reduced…

The desecration of the Australian worker

23 February 2017 3:16 pm

Today’s disastrous decision by the Fair Work Commission underscores an attack that has been waged on the Australian worker by…

How would you define marriage?

23 February 2017 12:38 pm

Last week a Senate report was released, following the Inquiry: the Select Committee on the Exposure Draft of the Marriage…

Do you want politics with that?

23 February 2017 7:33 am

Politics used to be confined to newspapers and stuffy government buildings — it was considered an impolite topic of conversation. Now, it has become the norm for political agendas to appear in every aspect…

Freedom of religion recognised in marriage equality report

22 February 2017 5:07 pm

The much-anticipated Report of the Senate Inquiry into the Commonwealth Government’s Exposure Draft of the Marriage Amendment (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill…

When 50 per cent off is no bargain

22 February 2017 2:55 pm

Reducing the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount is one of a welter of tax ideas to receive attention…

Thinking further about your departure, Cory…

22 February 2017 12:21 pm

What’s done is done and can n’er be undone.  You’ve left the Liberal Party behind and barring a Black Swan set of circumstances…

Milo Yiannopoulos: too dangerous

22 February 2017 7:28 am

When it was revealed that Milo Yiannopoulos endorsed sexual relationships between old men and boys as young as 13 (yes…

Sharia and sexism — a sequel

21 February 2017 1:50 pm

Apparently, criticising or arguing with a woman who thinks that Islam is the most feminist religion is sexist: Business and community leaders…

Bill borrows from Trump’s protectionist playbook

21 February 2017 7:34 am

Donald Trump’s ascendancy has provided ample fodder for left-leaning politicians, GetUp! and other aggrieved members of the activist class seeking…

Punk rock conservatism is bollocks

20 February 2017 5:55 pm

The idea that Trump’s ascendancy has made conservatism a ‘counter-culture’ has been put forward by several right-leaning persons I admire…

Edward Gough Trump

20 February 2017 7:29 am

For many it was if the prophesied Messiah had finally arrived while others feared the anti-Christ had descended upon the…

How Asia thrives without open borders

19 February 2017 4:35 pm

The European Union, the United States and Australia have since the late eighties shared in the belief that the key…

Daniel Andrews’ “Education State” is bullying homeschoolers

19 February 2017 8:13 am

Everyone knows there is something wrong with our education system.  The failure of testing such as NAPLAN to improve learning…

The left’s sickening superiority complex

18 February 2017 10:28 am

They should be thriving, vigorous, durable dormitories. Instead, college campuses have become sickly ideological safe spaces for frail liberal indoctrination.…

“Free speech? You can’t handle free speech.”

17 February 2017 3:49 pm

Australia’s race commissioner Tim Soutphommasane is taking on an Orwellian mission this week, telling members of parliament they need to keep free…

Our pols can learn a thing or two from the Kiwi cousins

17 February 2017 10:00 am

Today, Malcolm Turnbull visits New Zealand for his first leaders’ meeting with Kiwi Prime Minister Bill English. Trans-Tasman trade and whether there’s a future for the…

Fatuous fallacies

17 February 2017 7:33 am

I confess that my expectations when it comes to Liberal Party MPs are pretty low these days.   Many of them are quite content with…

Bede and Mary’s “Battle of Ideas”

16 February 2017 7:55 pm

Recently, the Young Liberals put together a publication called the “Liberal Review.” It was the type of exercise youth movements…

The Q&A sharia shout-out

16 February 2017 2:09 pm

The cool and hip, if occasionally shouty, face of young Islam in Australia, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, opines that if sharia law has got some…

Chekists aren’t our chums

16 February 2017 7:31 am

BOSTON, UNITED STATES — Am I nuts? I feel like I might be nuts. On the one hand, unlike Tony…

Rebooting democracy

15 February 2017 4:25 pm

Like prophets of old, McLuhan’s warnings “the media is the message” has gone as unheeded as the Buggles observation that…

The Libs go AWOL in the battle of ideas

15 February 2017 7:22 am

Cory may have abandoned us and Pauline might be nicking our base from under us, but at least we die-hard…

That dinner, that beat up, that … yawn

14 February 2017 5:11 pm

‘Notorious controversialists make controversial remarks at controversial fundraiser’ is the lamest news story in a year already chock full of lame news stories. It…

Do we have the faith to change the world?

14 February 2017 1:48 pm

Martin Scorsese’s Silence is not the kind of film that aspires to popularity. Partly this is because, as a viewing experience, it…